The family of the jailed British-Egyptian writer Alaa Abd El Fattah have urged the UK foreign secretary, David Lammy, to prioritise the dissident’s release above trade deals during his visit to Egypt.
Fattah remains in a Cairo jail even though his sentence for dissent has been served. His mother is on a hunger strike in London with her health now deteriorating.
Arguing Lammy and his commitment to human rights is facing “a moment of truth”, Fattah’s family said Lammy should return with him on the plane.
The Foreign Office confirmed Lammy’s visit on Thursday to Egypt and said he would again raise the British government’s call for his release. But the family fear the foreign secretary may be about to throw away vital leverage by not setting any conditions on its relations with Egyptian business.
The Foreign Office highlighted how Egypt could contribute to UK growth and help stem the flow of illegal migration, the two issues Downing Street is demanding it must reference in its communications.
Lammy is expected to meet his counterpart Badr Abdelatty and intends to thank the Egyptian government for its role in brokering the ceasefire in Gaza.
Fattah’s sister Sanaa Seif expressed her scepticism about the Foreign Office assurances: “When Liz Truss signed the last UK-Egypt association agreement she was also telling parliament that Alaa should be released.
“David Cameron had an emotional meeting with me and my family and claimed he was looking for any leverage to use for Alaa – when he was in fact overseeing the largest weapons purchase in the two countries’ history.
“I can only hope things are different under this government and when the foreign secretary says Alaa is the number one issue that means he is going to resolve it and get him out of jail.”
Fattah’s 68-yearold mother, Laila Soueif, has been protesting outside Downing Street each morning and is on a hunger strike in which she has taken only limited fluid for 116 days.
Her refusal to eat food or take calories has led to her blood sugar readings dropping below 3.0mnol/L for the first time. She looks increasingly frail, and says she is tired but determined to remain on hunger strike until he is released – or she collapses. He has a young son in Brighton.
Uncertain how much longer she will survive, Soueif had asked prison officials for permission to hug her son during her last visit to jail, but was forced again to speak to him through a glass window.
His morale is said to be low because he believes officials are breaking the Egyptian code of criminal procedure by not counting the two years in which he was in jail prior to trial as part of his served sentence, and that in reality his detention is indefinite.
He completed his five-year sentence last September, but is now due to stay in jail until 2027. Articles 482 and 484 of the code states that time served in pre-trial detention should be deducted from prison sentences.
A software engineer and award-winning writer, Fattah first came to prominence during the Arab spring, and has served many periods in jail.
The British prime minister, Keir Starmer, has written to the Egyptian president, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, and his plight was also raised by the UK’s national security adviser, Jonathan Powell, on 2 January. But the family were deeply distressed to see reports that Starmer did not raise the issue in a meeting with Sisi at the G20, saying it was the first time that Sisi had met a British prime minister and the issue had not been raised.
In opposition as shadow foreign secretary in July 2022, Lammy called for serious diplomatic consequences for Egypt if Fattah was not released, describing him as “a prisoner of conscience and a courageous voice for democracy”.
He said he had been jailed solely for sharing a Facebook post that included a reference to torture in prison
Sacha Deshmukh, Amnesty International UK’s chief executive, said Lammy should demand to see Fattah, who was British citizen held in jail in Cairo.
